Energy efficiency and environmental regulations for mitigating carbon emissions in Chinese Provinces

Abstract

Taking into account the contributions of economic performance (GDP), urbanization (URB), industrial structure (IND), and renewable energy consumption (REC), this paper examines the impact of green technology innovation (GTE), energy efficiency (EF), and environmental regulation (ER) on CO2 emissions in Chinese provinces from 2010 to 2020. Using the GMM method for the initial estimation, the MMQR as 2nd generation test for robustness and innovative panel causality presented by the JKS test, we have found: 1) a one percent boom in GDP is linked with a 0.08% upward push in CO2 emissions throughout 30 provinces in China. 2) the renewable energy and energy efficiency data seems to effectively decrease CO2 emissions, with a more pronounced impact observed at the upper quantile. 3) The environmental policy is limited across all quantiles. The study examines novel implications regarding sustainable development and carbon neutrality objectives.